5 Minutes With Australian Artist CJ Hendry

The New-York based artist has teamed up with Christian Louboutin for her latest exhibition.

Apr 11, 2017 3:29am

New York-based Australian artist CJ Hendry—famous for her insanely life-like sketches of luxury fashion pieces (among other things)—has gone from strength to strength in her career of late. And she's showing no signs of slowing down any time soon; CJ's atest exhibition, Complimentary Colours, saw the artist team up with Christian Louboutin for a show at the highly competitive Hong Kong Art Basel. Fresh off the back of opening night, we nailed CJ down for a chat about foraying into colour, working with a brand for the first time, and why she's moving away from fashion.

Fashion obviously has a strong impact on your art, how much is your work tied up with the fashion industry?

In the early days [fashion] consumed a lot of my thoughts. This was represented a lot in my early art. Nowadays it’s having less and less of a priority. Maybe I’m developing different focuses and at a very experimental stage of my career.

Outside of your work, have you always had an interest in fashion?

Yes, I have from a very young age. I spent a lot of my time and energy searching for shoes and handbags online. There’s something about the craftsmanship of luxury brands and their product which I’m very much fascinated by. Now more than ever, I feel like it’s so important to value bespoke craft and detail in a world of fast fashion.

Have you worked with Christian Louboutin before?

No, this is the first time I have partnered with a brand. It’s true that I’ve referenced brands extensively, however I generally choose to turn down collaborations as it becomes a little too restrictive, as I’m not fully able to express my viewpoint. I have been so impressed with Louboutin, as a brand, as they have supported me (a relatively unconventional artist) and given me full creative freedom. Which is very rare for such a big luxury brand.

How did the collaboration come about?

Christian Louboutin have been supporting artists every year around Hong Kong Art Basel (I believe since 2013) I was very fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to work with them this year. I’m even more fortunate to be given full creative control and to execute my creative ideas in the form of crayon high heels.

From what we can see in the exhibition images, you’ve gone with a lot of primary and bright colours. Why did you go down that route?

I chose to move in the complete opposite direction from my black and white works. I chose to touch only colours that can be mixed from primary red, yellow, blue. It made for a very fun playful event.

We hear the exhibition sold out in seven minutes, how did you feel when you heard that news?

I think it was the fact the colour works were such an unexpected direction for me to take, it got people so excited. That, and the fact I partnered with such an established brand, Christian Louboutin, made for the perfect storm. I’ve always been of the opinion that if I am excited about the series, it translates to the viewer. I was pumped to move into colour, it felt like the right time.